Lawsuit over deportations of foreigners with pro-Palestinian views can proceed, judge rules

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Politico

04/29/2025 02:46 PM EDT


A broad lawsuit alleging the Trump administration is deporting people for holding pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views can move forward to trial, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, said academic groups who challenged the practice made a plausible case that their members are being targeted for their advocacy related to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, rather than for endorsing violence or supporting terrorist groups.

“Although case law defining the scope of noncitizens’ First Amendment rights is notably sparse, the Plaintiffs have at least plausibly alleged that noncitizens, including lawful permanent residents, are being targeted specifically for exercising their right to political speech,” Young wrote in a 68-page decision.

“This Court rules that the Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged the existence of both an ideological-deportation policy targeting protected political speech and a more informal campaign of censorship through threats,” the Boston-based judge added.

Young largely rejected the Justice Department’s arguments that the scholars’ First Amendment claims could be pursued only on a case-by-case basis through immigration proceedings. The judge noted that the Trump administration relied on precedents from the Red Scare era, when the government sought to deport non-citizens who had been members of the Communist Party, but said those arguments are misguided.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/29/lawsuit-deportations-pro-palestine-proceed-00316368

[republianmushroom]

1. Land of th free, republican style.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules

The efforts to detain and deport noncitizen activists earlier this year represented an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment, the ruling says.

Trump administration illegally targeted pro-Palestinian protesters, judge rules 👀🗞️🚨

The efforts to detain and deport noncitizen activists earlier this year represented an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment, the ruling says.

wapo.st/4pPUT5I
Gift article 🎁

— 2021-Free until now 💙 🌊🇬🇱🇺🇦🌷 (@patricia-ann.bsky.social) 2025-09-30T18:24:12.241Z

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/09/30/trump-administration-pro-palestinian-student-deportations-trial/

The Trump administration’s push earlier this year to arrest and deport international students for their pro-Palestinian activism was illegal, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, calling the crackdown a “truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech.”

In a sweeping rebuke, U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston said that the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department sought to target non-citizens “for speaking out” with the “goal of tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated” students.......

The bench trial — decided by a judge rather than a jury — sought to answer the question of whether noncitizens in the United States have the same rights to freedom of speech as citizens.

To pursue and remove noncitizen protesters, the Trump administration deployed the immigration enforcement apparatus in unprecedented ways, according to witness testimony......

In filings, lawyers for the plaintiffs and the government clashed over the question of whether noncitizens have the same First Amendment rights as citizens. In a court document, lawyers for the Justice Department argued that noncitizens’ right to freedom of speech is already constrained, pointing to the fact that they are lawfully prohibited from donating to political candidates.

But the plaintiffs’ lawyers cited decisions by multiple courts affirming that noncitizens who were lawfully admitted to the country are entitled to “the full panoply” of First Amendment rights.